Photo by Denise Bertacchi
St. Louis has a new kid friendly art attraction: the Citygarden. Located downtown, the garden is two green blocks sandwiched between Market, Chestnut, 8th and 10th streets. It is part of the city park's department and not associated with any museums.
The garden is truly kid friendly. The designers planned for children to touch, climb and swim in the art. Only one sign in the whole garden could be found to warn visitors off the art, and that was on top of a waterfall.
The garden sports a large area of surface level water fountains that spray visitors randomly. The fountain is much like the one in the Children's Zoo, but much larger. Children can kick off their shoes and run through the fountain and wade in the pool.
Most of the art is modern, playful, approachable and family friendly. Children can appreciate many of the pieces, which include giant bunnies and Pinocchio. Parents can ask their children to interpret the abstract pieces -- one piece was dubbed by a ten year old visitor as "a giant cheese grater" while another was compared to a Lego head.
Although most of Citygarden is bounded by plantings or stone walls, the garden is still open to busy streets in many places. Toddlers should be carefully watched so they don't wander into danger.
Maps of the artwork are available in boxes around the garden. An audio tour can be called from your cell phone by dialing 314-802-9571. It can also be downloaded through iTunes.
Parking could be a challenge on busy days or when the Cardinals are having a home game. Bring quarters for the parking meters when you go.
Grown up food is available at the Terrace View Cafe. Two ice cream trucks were spotted working the crowd on a recent visit, so kid friendly treats may be available for purchase. The garden basically a city park, so visitors are welcome to bring a picnic.
For more info: Visit the Citygarden website here. Hours are 6am to 10pm , 365 days a year, and the park is free.
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Comments
I love the City Garden. It's beautiful. However, I disagree that it is kid friendly. That assumes that parents have any sense whatsoever & will be watching their children. What I saw down there, was a lawsuit waiting to happen on a major level.
Kids (in swimsuits BTW) jumping in and out of a wading pool on slippery concert and steel sculptures with very sharp edges. The beautiful, very tall steel U-shaped pieces- kids on top of that. Not in it, not trying to run up it...actually on top of it. Extremely sharp edge art pieces where kids were running and diving into the wade pool.
Parents I saw were not watching their kids or they were unsupervised. The officer that was there was too busy talking to the ice cream man to stop people from kicking the neon walking people.
I only hope folks don't destroy this place before it's all said and done. And while I believe parents are ultimately responsible, they need much better safety down there for those who do not.
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